From Jackie Roswell, National Gerbil Society
Parsons mentions that the authors of books on rats don’t appear to be aware
of this phenomenon. The same is true of gerbils, who frequently look as though
they have been bleeding if they suffer from a common allergy to the aromatic
oils in wood shavings.
What I find most disturbing is that so many small animal vets are also
unaware that a bloody-looking discharge from the eyes and nose doesn’t mean that
the gerbil has suffered some form of trauma. A couple of times a month I get a
call from a desperate gerbil owner whose vet has given up trying to treat an
injury to the nose.
jackie@rodent.demon.co.uk
